


but for a moment, hold my hand in yours

by Kellyscams



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Boys In Love, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Parenthood, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 14:18:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7848322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kellyscams/pseuds/Kellyscams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A year after their time spent in Vask, an offer comes to Damen and Laurent</p>
            </blockquote>





	but for a moment, hold my hand in yours

**Author's Note:**

> sorry if there're lots of mistakes and typos in this one. i've had a long, hard night and didn't really get the chance to read this one over thoroughly.

Vannes came into the great hall with the letter just about an hour ago. She remains with them, still, waiting for a response. To Damen's left, Laurent sits uncharacteristically quiet. The letter is on the table between them, but, by now, Damen has it committed to memory. No doubt Laurent does as well. 

"So," Vannes says, lifting her chalice of wine and sipping. "Shall I send a response?" 

This decision does not fall on Damen alone though he knows what his answer is. Laurent, however, continues to stare at the words that could change everything. The wheels of his ever-going mind are turning, over and over. He still says nothing. 

"Leave us, please, Vannes," Damen instructs. "We'll send for you when we've reached a decision."

Polishing off the rest of her drink, she nods before rising from her seat across from them, leaving the letter as she makes her way out of the room. 

"They've asked for a response in a week's time," she tells them. "They won't repeat the offer."

Of course they wouldn't. This is a very serious matter and the Vaskian Empire will not handle this lightly. The decision has been given to the new Artisan kings. A kindness that they cannot overlook. 

Still, they need to talk it over. Weigh all their options. Most of all, Damen knows he needs to give Laurent time to process this. Knows that Laurent will pick and needle at anything like a tangled up knot of yarn, and will do so until he's explored every possible outcome. The silence shouldn't be all that unusual, and under normal circumstances, Damen tries to be patient and understanding when Laurent turns a situation over in his labyrinth mind. But this situation isn't normal. It's far from it.

"Please," Damen whispers. "Say something."

In answer, Laurent simply slides the letter on the table closer to him. His eyes scan the words Damen's sure he's memorized. Another several moments pass by in silence. 

Until, "You want to keep him." 

Damen's heart shudders under the weight of Laurent's very correct assumption. His words hold some emotion that Damen is unable to decipher. 

"I do," Damen says. "He's my son."

It's been almost twelve months since that night around the Vaskan fire when Damen had been asked to lay with their women and Laurent granted such permission. Damen had heartily agreed and hadn't thought much of it since then. There had been other things to occupy his mind and it only now occurs to him that maybe the thought of him fathering a child with one of the women that night might have crossed it. Because today they've sent a letter offering to let him and Laurent take the one boy that was born. A son. Damen has a son.

"He would be your heir," Laurent remarks. Taps his finger on the letter. "Since you won't talk to Jokaste."

Damen sighs. This is not the first time Laurent's suggested such a thing. Jokaste's son is, after all, Damen's nephew. With some arrangements, Damen could always make an offer to have some sort of custody over the child. But he won't. In her own twisted, strange way, Jokaste saved Damen from Kastor and delivered him to the fate he would have never dreamed possible. One he'd never give up. Damen's content in letting her and her son -- his nephew -- live away from here and in peace. 

"We've talked about this, Laurent."

"I'm aware," he replies. "I'm simply making an observation."

"You don't want to take him in."

"I didn't say that."

"Then what _are_ you saying?"

Laurent turns his head enough so that Damen can no longer see his face, but not quick enough to miss the flush that takes his cheeks. His shoulders stiffen with his next deep inhale. 

"I'm not saying no, Damen." He sighs and then his shoulders droop. "Of course I'm not saying no. He's your son." 

His voice drops on the last part of his statement, splintering off into some emotion Damen hadn't expected. Damen reaches out slowly and eases a hand onto Laurent's shoulder. He's unbelievably tense, something Damen hasn't felt so much of in months. After a moment, that tension begins to melt under Damen's touch. 

"Yes, my son. But, Laurent..." Since Damen is unable to coax Laurent's gaze back to him, he stands and moves around him. Laurent's gaze flicks up. "He's not just _my_ son. He's _ours_." Damen kneels in front of him for the first time since being his slave. Perhaps, in some ways, Damen will forever be his slave. He gathers Laurent's hands in his own and kisses his knuckles. "I'd want to raise him _together,_ Laurent. _With_ you."

"You're a sentimental fool," Laurent says, though his words are accompanied by a slight twitch of his lips. "Damen, what if..." He clenches his jaw, as if readying to for some grueling debate. Which, for Laurent, is usually a great source of enjoyment. "I don't know how to be a father." 

Damen grins. "Neither do I. I thought we'd learn together."

"You'd trust me with your son?"

"I already trust you with my life, Laurent." Laurent's eyes glow softly at that. "So, yes, I trust you with our son." 

Laurent appears helpless to hold back the smile at that. His mouth opens, but he gets no further than that before dropping his brow against Damen's shoulder. Damen cradles the back of his head, holds him close and kisses his temple. He wonders if Laurent will ever be used being trusted, being loved. Small doses of affection he once cringed from, he's gradually coming to accept. Maybe even to want. His lips seek out a spot on the side of Damen's neck and presses a soft kiss there.

"Okay," he whispers. "I'll tell Vannes to accept the offer on our behalf." Laurent lifts away, and for one, brief moment, Damen would swear there were tears in his eyes. "Let's bring our son home."

***

"Do you want to hold him, Laurent?"

He's beautiful, their son. Olive skin and big, brown eyes and thick locks of black hair. Damen doubts he'll ever tire of looking at him. He never imagined what it would be like to hold his son in his arms and now he can't think of anything more precious. 

The Vaskans came this morning. There was something ceremonious about it all, even if Damen and Laurent haven't announced yet that they've welcomed a son into their lives. An heir to their throne, is what he'll be seen as. Damen wants him to be _more_ than that. So does Laurent. 

"I want a lot of things," Laurent says from the other side of the room. 

While Damen has done very little today except hold the baby -- rocking him to sleep and only handing him over, in addition to a wet nurse, to those he trusts most -- Laurent has danced around the perimeter all day. Sometimes coming close to breaching, but never actually crossing. 

Those who have been allowed to see the baby, have all made a fuss. Nikandros clapped hands onto Damen's shoulders and pulled him in for a hug. Jord made funny faces at the baby. Paschal examined him, happily declaring him healthy as an ox. Pallas remarked over how strong he looked. But Laurent has kept his distance. 

"You can't avoid him forever, you know," Damen says. "We're alone now. Come meet your son."

Laurent glances up at him. It's rare that Laurent wears the expression he has upon his face now and Damen knows it's even rarer that he'll let anyone even get a glimpse of him in such a state. As strange as it is, Laurent showing his fear and worries right out in the open like this, is an honor and a privilege.

Damen says, softly, "It's okay, my love," and smiles at the way that never fails to turn Laurent's cheeks pink, "You'll do fine." 

"You are very irritating, do you know that?" he grumbles. 

"You've made me aware on several occasions." Damen chuckles and crosses the room. "He wants to meet his father."

"He's a baby, he doesn't know what he--"

Laurent must've not realized just how close Damen has gotten with the baby. When he looks up again, and sees, he holds his breath. 

"Here," Damen whispers, as he eases the child into Laurent's arms. Eyes wide and mouth slacked, Laurent cradles the baby gently. "See? A natural." 

For several heartbeats, all Laurent does is stare. His eyes never leave the baby's face and after some time, his mouth pulls up into a smile.

"He looks like you," he says. "Damianos, he looks like you." 

Smiling, Damen presses a kiss to the back of Laurent's head. "He's beautiful."

"Didn't I just say that?" Without giving Damen a chance to respond to that, Laurent asks, "What do you plan on calling him?"

"I..." Damen moves a step away. There is name that's been floating through his mind, though he hasn't had the courage to say it out loud. "I... have an idea, but I don't know if you'll like it."

Laurent scoffs, still looking at the baby. "Is it some barbaric name then? Something very warlike?" 

"No." 

It must be Damen's tone that catches Laurent's attention. "What is it then?"

"You like the name, I'm sure," Damen says. "I just... don't know if you'd want to name him that when he looks so much like me."

It's not very often that Damen is able to catch Laurent off guard, and normally he'd relish in such a moment. Not today. Not when Laurent looks at him as though Damen's actually shocked all the thoughts out of his mind. The spool that constantly turns and ravels in so many ways Damen'll never truly understand no matter how hard he tries seems to have been snipped, right at the source. 

"Damen..." he breathes.

"We don't have to, of course. I just thought..."

Laurent doesn't let him finish that. Instead, he steps up next to him, close enough that their arms brush together and Damen leans against him. He puts a hand on their son's head while Laurent holds him.

"Welcome home, Auguste," Laurent whispers. "Welcome home." 


End file.
